Loki Isn't on Asgard Any More
by Fourteen Hundred Hours
Summary: Sequal to my Mr Sinister story, set after the Thor film. Loki wants to get back to Asgard, and Gambit ends up helping him.
1. Chapter 1

**A follow on from my earlier story "Mr Sinister isn't a Fan of Ethics". If you don't want to go back and read that, here is a synopsis to fill you in: Loki and Gambit had their DNA stolen to make a kid. This all took place before the Thor film. This one takes place after the film, one year on, but still before the House of M saga.**

**This is dedicated to my friend Bewareofbicycles, who has the view that Loki is too cute/awesome to die. Enjoy.**

Loki was falling. Falling away from Thor, away from Asgard, away from his home. They would think he was dead, and sooner or later would forget about him. He could hide his existence from them, and live on Earth while he waited. Waited to get his revenge. As he fell it was a simple matter to use the remains of the Bifrost to travel to Earth. It shouldn't have been possible, but he did it. The fools. They would think he was dead.

. . . . .

Gambit felt alone. As alone as he could be in a mansion filled with X-Men and hormonal mutant teenagers. Rogue had gone on one of her journeys to 'find herself'; although this time it hadn't been his fault. Mystique had shown up, just long enough to do the damage, then had gone, leaving a troubled and angry Rogue in her wake. She wouldn't be away too long though; she normally had a 'revelation' after a couple of weeks or so and then come back.

Jari, his son, had gone off to Wales for a few weeks. Pixie had dragged him off to introduce him to her family, and Jari had seemed quite eager to get back to Britain for a while. Even Wolverine had gone. When all else failed Gambit usually engaged in 'friendly' sparring with his team-mate, which always ended with Gambit in a mess complaining about the unfairness of mutant healing factors.

All in all he was bored. That is, he was bored up until the point when a very bedraggled Asgardian showed up on the basketball court. It was the shouts that alerted him: not shouts of terror, as the students were used to unexpected teleporters, but shouts of annoyance.

Gambit ran down from his room to the courts, and thankfully arrived before Emma and Scott. Loki had fallen over and appeared to be unconscious. Gambit looked around for help, and caught sight of Nightcrawler nearby. In a second the teleporter was beside him, and helped carry Loki indoors to the medi-wing. Once in the wing a furious Emma came storming in.

"What is _he _doing back here?" She demanded, her voice sharp.

"I don't know- he's unconscious." Kurt was standing nervously behind Gambit, wondering what he'd got himself into.

At this Loki came round, and groggily sat up. He acknowledged Gambit with a nod, then caught sight of Emma.

"Oh great. _You._"

"Oh great. _It's _awake." Emma turned her head.

"Charming as ever." Loki looked at Kurt. "Hank, right? You've lost weight."

Kurt bristled, and drew himself up to his full height. "My name is Kurt Wagner, but I am also known as Nightcrawler!"

"Right." Loki swung his legs over the bed and made to stand up. "Where's Jari?"

"He's in Wales, with Pixie's family." Gambit answered.

"I see. Children grow up so fast." They both feigned sadness. "Anyway, I'll be off. Nice to see you again." He tried to walk out the door, only to be stopped by Emma.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Wales. Or New Mexico. Somewhere I can think."

"Oh no you don't. You Asgardians always come to Earth for a reason. What are you up to?" Emma had her arms crossed and was giving Loki her killer stare.

"Believe me; I don't want to be on Earth. And in case you forgot, or if you are simply ignorant, I can teleport." Loki then turned to Gambit. "Fancy a bit of fun? You can tell me where Wales is."

Emma guessed what was going on. "Remy le Beau you will do nothing of the sort! Don't you dare…"

But she was too late. Gambit and Loki had vanished into thin air, leaving a fuming Emma and an impressed Nightcrawler.

"He can really teleport all the way to Wales in one go? Unglaublich."

. . . . .

"So, what are you doing on Earth?" Loki and Gambit had landed somewhere in the Lake District. It was a little off, but it gave Loki time to regain his strength and get his bearings.

"I couldn't really stay on Asgard. If I stayed there I don't know what would have happened to me. At the best I would have been banished to Earth anyway, so I wasn't loosing anything by coming here."

"Why would you be banished?" Gambit was curious.

"It is a very long story." Loki took in his surroundings. They were in the middle of a wood, surrounded on all sides by densely packed trees. "Although it looks like we have a very long walk."

"We're walking? Can't you just teleport?"

"Not yet. We'll have to wait a bit. And I need to find out where on Earth Wales is." Loki picked a direction and walked. Gambit followed in silence, and it was a few minutes before he asked again.

"So why would you be banished? I thought you were royalty"

Loki sighed. As they walked out of the wood and into the nearest town he told Gambit everything that had happened in the past few weeks. When he had finished he looked at Gambit expectantly. "I can understand if you no longer wish to travel with me. If you do not want to associate with a traitor."

To his surprise Gambit laughed. "Why don't you just go back, say you're sorry, you're not dead, and all that. This sort of thing happens all the time with the X-Men."

"What happens all the time? People betray their family or people come back from the dead?" Loki was curious.

"Both. But I guess Asgardians aren't as forgiving as we humans, oui?"

"They aren't. But I'll figure something out. I won't stay on Earth, hidden, for the rest of my life. No offence intended. I am sure you are very fond of your planet." Loki pointed ahead of him. "Look, there's a town up ahead. Maybe we can find out where we are."

Gambit squinted. "How can you tell there's a town? I can only see grass."

Loki laughed. "Asgardian, remember? And you might want a change of clothing; you are quite conspicuous at the moment."

Gambit was about to reply that he could say the same to Loki, but then realised he had changed his clothes to fit in. "How-" he began, but then remembered. "Right- Asgardian."

. . . . .

Once Loki was confident he could teleport to where Megan and Jari where, he and Gambit left. They arrived just outside a small Welsh village, and began to head in.

"Where does Pixie live?" Loki asked, looking around him. "And why are these people staring at us?"

"Je ne sais pas. I'd guess that they don't get many new people around here." Gambit put his head down. He didn't like the looks he was being given.

Loki forced a smile on his face, and walked over to an old lady sitting on a bench. "Excuse me, we were wondering where we could find…" he looked at Gambit to supply the name.

"Megan Gwynn."

"Yes, we are looking for Megan Gwynn. Do you know her?" The old woman glared at Loki.

"D'you mean Barry Gwynn's girl? Her with the pink hair? The one with the English boyfriend?" She made it very clear she didn't like Pixie much, or Jari.

"Yes. That's her." Loki was still trying to smile.

"She'll be in the park down the road. Always plays her music too loud, she does, at all hours. I must say I was relieved when she went off to that fancy boarding school, she was always…"

Loki turned away and immediately headed to the house in question without saying anything. The woman turned her attention to Gambit. "You're not French are you? You sounded French. I…" But Gambit had hurriedly caught up with Loki, leaving the woman speaking to herself.

They reached the park and found Jari and Pixie sitting on the grass. Jari jumped up when he saw them, and ran over.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I came to Wales to escape from you two you know." He smiled, then stopped when he saw Loki's face. "What's happened?"

"It's a long story." Loki said, and pointedly looked at Pixie, making it obvious she wasn't to hear.

"Yeah, it's really long. I'm not sure I want to hear it again." Gambit added. Loki glared at him.

"I just needed to warn you. Do not try and go to Asgard. For one thing the Bifrost is gone."

"But what about the back entrance you showed me?" Jari was confused. Why couldn't he go to Asgard?

"Especially don't use the back entrance. Everyone thinks I am dead, and that I betrayed them to the Frost Giants. I just need to lie low on Earth until I can clear my name and go back. Understand? Do not mention this to anyone." Loki's voice was grave, and he stared at Jari. Jari nodded.

"Sure. Okay. You going to be alright? I mean, you should be fine, people betray the X-Men and come back from the dead the whole time, and there's never much of a problem there."

Loki laughed. "Yes, I heard about that. Asgardians are different to humans though."

"I thought the same too." Gambit interjected.

"Okay. Well, er, thanks for letting me know. And, um, you're not going to be staying in Wales are you?" Jari's worry was obvious.

"Don't worry, we will be going now." Loki turned away. "Goodbye."

"Bye!" Jari was relieved to see them go. Things always got messy when they were around.

. . . . .

"You lied to him." Gambit said. He and Loki were sitting outside New Mexico, Loki's next destination.

"I know. I'm sorry. But if I told him the truth, that I really did bring the Frost Giants into Asgard, he would never want to see me again."

"You never know, if you explained why he might understand."

"Maybe. But he grew up on Earth, and humans tend to be very touchy on the subject of trust and honour. I'm surprised you don't seem to have a problem with it."

Gambit shrugged. "I was a world class thief. Believe me, there's nothing you can do to do with betrayal and trickery that I haven't done. And I know what it's like to go to extreme measures just to get noticed, or to be accepted."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Did we just have a heart to heart conversation?" Gambit asked Loki jokingly.

"I hope not. " Loki laughed.

"But seriously" Gambit persisted. Loki stopped laughing.

"No."

'**Je ne sais pas' means 'I don't know'. I thought I'd include practically the only French I know.**

"**Unglaublich" is 'incredible' in German.**

**There won't be as much of Jari in this one as in the last one- this one's all about Gambit and Loki. Let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot to mention this in my first one: I don't own any part of the Marvel Universe, as much as I would like that to be the case. Thanks to everyone who has decided to carry on reading to this chapter!**

Loki and Gambit had spent the night sleeping rough, taking it in turns to keep watch. In the morning they teleported to a small remote town in the middle of nowhere.

"Why are we here?" Gambit asked, as he looked around the town. Early in the morning it was deserted, and there seemed to be no sign of life.

"Thor was here. He developed feelings for a human girl who lives here, and I am sure that he will try and come back to Earth to see her again. Before he comes back I will try and convince her that I had no intention of harming Thor or anyone else; when Thor arrives she will help persuade him to let me come back to Asgard." Loki revealed his plan in a monotone, eyes scanning the town.

"That's quite the plan." Gambit muttered. Loki smirked in response.

"You!" A shout rang out from behind them, and they turned round to see an angry young woman advancing on them. "After everything you've done, you come _here_!" She finished, drawing up short in front of them. Gambit looked puzzled.

"What have I done?" He asked, before realizing that he probably wasn't the one she was angry at.

The woman rolled her eyes. "You've done nothing that I'm aware of, but if you're friends with _him _you're probably… I don't know, another _horrible lying scheming traitorous bastard!_" At this she tried to punch Loki, but he easily dodged it.

"Jane? What's going on? You totally interrupted my beauty sleep." Another woman had joined them, and was standing behind Jane wearing a jacket hastily thrown over her pyjamas.

"Darcy, this is Loki." Jane said, her voice dripping with hatred.

"Oh my god. What's he doing here? Are we all going to get attacked again or something? Is Thor here? Who's the other guy?" a stream of questions erupted from Darcy's mouth, as she gazed in horror at Loki.

"I knew if I came with you there'd be trouble" Gambit said, speaking to no one in particular. Loki gave him a sideways glance.

"I thought that that was why you came. If you're going to complain you can go back to the X-Men."

"Boring." Gambit stated, at the same time Jane yelled to get their attention.

"Hey!"

"I apologise. I take it you are Jane Foster, and you… must be Darcy Lewis." Loki's voice was smooth, trying to calm Jane down.

"How do you know my name? Oh my god." Darcy stared wildly at them before running back inside.

"What are you doing here?" Jane echoed Darcy's earlier question, her voice calmer than it had been, although she still looked like she wanted to hit Loki. Loki sighed.

"I'm here to try and explain my actions to you- I understand how it must have looked to you but I hope you will appreciate that there is another side to the story. I tried explaining to Thor, but he wouldn't listen. So I came here, in the hope that you might hear me out."

Jane scowled. As much as she wanted to pay Loki back for all the trouble he'd caused, she couldn't doubt the sincerity in his voice. She hadn't wanted to give him a chance to explain himself, but… well; it couldn't hurt to hear his side of things could it? Her train of thought was broken by Loki collapsing at her feet. She turned round to see Darcy standing there holding her long range Taser gun.

"Darcy! He was going to tell us why he's here!"

"Sorry! I thought he was going to kill us all!" She ran over, and Gambit took an involuntary step back.

Jane groaned. "He might kill us all now that you've done that." She turned to Gambit. "Can you carry him inside? Or does Darcy have to taser you too?"

"Non. No taser. Please." Gambit picked up Loki's limp form. "But I hope you don't live too far away- he's heavier that he looks."

Jane eyed Loki suspiciously. "Hmmm. Must be the weird clothing. We live over there." She gestured to where she meant, and then motioned for Gambit to go first, so she could keep an eye on him.

. . . . .

Minutes later Loki was handcuffed to a chair and Gambit was getting interrogated.

"What's your name? Are you really with the X-Men? Why are you with him?" Jane wasted no time in getting to the point.

"My name is Gambit, and yes, I'm one of the X-Men. I'm with him because… I'm not really sure. It was a spontaneous thing." Gambit eyed the handcuffs. "Handcuffs aren't going to hold him you know. He can teleport."

"What's your real name? How do you know Loki?"

"Remy le Beau. He's a friend." Gambit didn't really want to go into the details. The whole having your DNA stolen along with that of a Norse god to make a kid tended to confuse people.

"Remy… that's a nice name. Do you have a girlfriend?" Darcy entered the conversation, but was met with a stern glance from Jane.

"Darcy, why don't you make some coffee."

"Coffee. Right. Um, should I make Loki any?" Darcy wondered.

"If you must." Jane said, in a way that clearly meant 'only make him coffee if you put a lethal dose of poison in'.

"How did you know who he was? I thought you'd never actually met." Gambit asked Jane.

"Thor gave a pretty vivid description of him. I also guessed that someday he might show up."

They sat in silence for a minute until Loki stirred. As soon as his eyes snapped open he realised that he was handcuffed, and so he instantly teleported to the other side of the room. He glared at Jane reproachfully. Gambit couldn't resist an 'I told you so' look. Jane took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. Darcy panicked and tasered you, and I thought you'd be angry when you came round so I handcuffed you to the chair. Please sit down."

Darcy chose that time to come in with the coffee. "Oh wow, you got out of the handcuffs. Are you like Houdini or something?"

"Or something." Gambit muttered. Loki sat down again and sharply elbowed Gambit. He stared at the mug of coffee placed in front of him.

"What is this?" He questioned.

"Coffee. Um, Thor drank it, so I guess it's safe for your kind to drink, but we have juice if you like, or water, but we don't have anything weird like reindeer blood." Darcy garbled, then noticed everyone was giving her odd looks. Jane mouthed the word 'reindeer blood' questioningly at her. Darcy shrugged.

"So." Jane started. "You'd better start apologising or story telling or whatever it was you came here to do. Before Darcy gets her taser out again." She added darkly.

"I will not be caught out by that one again." Loki replied, but said no more. Gambit coughed, and looked at him expectantly. Loki sighed.

"I never wanted to hurt Thor, he was practically my brother."

"Wait- I thought you _were_ brothers." Darcy said, looking confused.

"I thought so too. But it was not the case. My father was a Frost Giant, who kept me hidden because, well, I was not really a giant. Odin found me, took me, and raised me as his own son. It was only a few weeks ago that I found out the truth."

"That doesn't sound like much of an excuse to try and kill everyone." Darcy put in. Jane frowned at her.

"Darcy, please stop interrupting." Darcy mouthed 'sorry' and went back to her coffee.

"Laufey, my real father, hated Odin for the truce he made with the Frost Giants years ago. The Frost Giants are a warlike race, and disliked the peace between races. They wished to overthrow Odin and be done with his truce. I was only an instrument in their plan. At first when they came to me I refused to help them; I was even going to warn Odin of the uprising. But then they tried again, and this time I couldn't refuse."

"Why? What could have happened that would make you want to destroy your own family?" Jane herself interrupted, completely lost in the story.

"I didn't know they wanted to destroy the whole of Asgard; I only thought they wanted to be rid of Odin and his truce. Originally, as I said, I refused, but they then told me that they had my son held prisoner."

Jane and Darcy couldn't help but gasp.

"What? They had Jari!" Gambit was so caught up in the tale he forgot it was all a lie. Loki glared at him.

"Who's Jari?" Darcy asked.

"My son." Loki and Gambit both answered at the same time. Darcy spluttered and sprayed coffee all over the table, but no one noticed.

"Anyway, they said they would torture and gradually kill my son, Jari, if I didn't help them. So I went along with their plan, while all the while I plotted behind their backs. I purposefully made Sif and the Warriors Three distrust me, in the hope that they would return to Earth and bring back Thor, whom I knew would be able to overthrow the Frost Giants."

"But the Destroyer was controlled by you…" Jane almost whispered.

Loki shook his head. "An illusion. At that time Laufey had sneaked in to try and kill Odin in his sleep. Before he could I took my chance and killed him. The Frost Giants started to retreat, but then Thor came back. He held me responsible for everything that happened. He started to fight me- I fought back, but only in self-defence. Odin arrived to try and stop him but it was too late: the invasion and fighting had weakened the Bifrost to the point of collapse. I fell as it disintegrated, and ended up on Earth. Thor and Odin tried to save me, but couldn't. They now believe I am dead, and I am stranded on Earth until Thor finds a way to come here."

Loki finished, and was met with silence. Jane finally spoke. "But… your son, what happened to him?"

Loki allowed himself a sad smile. "He was released by the Warriors Three and is now safely back on Earth. But he doesn't trust me the way he used to; he said he didn't want to see me again for some time."

Gambit shook his head. "I've tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. It must be a teenage thing."

Darcy patted his hand sympathetically. Jane simply looked shocked. "How can you be so sure that Thor will find a way to come back to Earth?"

"I have every faith in Thor. I know he will find a way."

Jane nodded. "When he does, I'll try and explain to him. If he won't listen to you."

"Yeah, and I will too." Darcy said.

"Thank you." Loki looked round at them all, smiling. If they had been watching closely, they would have seen a look of cunning flash in his eyes briefly. But they didn't.

**How was it? I know a fair amount of it was Loki's story, but it had to be said, and now it's out of the way. If you're wondering where Erik is, he will be back in the next chapter. I'm also wondering whether Rogue or one of the other X-Men should make an appearance. Should they? Let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this was so late in posting- I've been work experiencing for an F1 team! Anyway, this one's a bit shorter than usual, but I just wanted to get something up. It's a bit of a transition chapter.**

Erik Selvig was looking back to getting away from S.H.E.I.L.D. Some of the agents had tried to make him feel welcome, but their efforts hadn't worked. A part of him wanted to stay and study the strange cube Fury had shown him, but the other part wanted to get back to Jane and Darcy. He wasn't sure how Jane would cope with Thor's departure, and hopefully Darcy would offer some support. Besides, it wasn't possible for him to spend any more time with the cube, as Fury had promptly locked it away after showing it to him.

Erik sighed. That was probably how these secret organisations worked; they showed you something amazing to get you hooked, the deliberately kept it away from you, just to keep you in their pocket. Typical. He had to admit- it did seem to be working.

"Mr Selvig?" An agent had appeared by Erik's side. He nodded, and stood up. "Your car is waiting." As quickly as he had shown up he vanished, leaving Erik to find the car himself. He headed out of the dark room he'd spent the last hour in, and into the sunlight. It didn't come as a surprise to him when a blindfold was placed over his eyes. Naturally shifty men in suits with suspicious alien equipment wouldn't want anyone finding out about their secret base.

. . . . .

Darcy drove fiercely out into the desert, gazing around in disbelief. The site constructed by S.H.E.I.L.D. had vanished completely, as if it had never been there. Jane too had noticed this. She turned apologetically to Loki, who was sitting beside her in the back.

"They must have taken everything away. I'm sorry. What was it you were looking for anyway?"

"I'm not sure." Loki shrugged and looked sad. "Maybe I was hoping there would be something from Asgard, or some clue as to how I could get back home."

"I thought you were going to wait until Thor found a way back?" Gambit asked innocently. He knew Loki too well- if he was going to drag them out into the desert it would be for something more important than getting home.

Loki glared at Gambit, but the action was lost as Gambit was sitting in the front, with Darcy.

"As much as I have faith in my brother I understand that the needs of Asgard will be more important to him than coming to Earth."

Jane nodded. "That sounds like Thor. Always putting the needs of others before himself." Gambit stifled a laugh as Darcy mimed gaging in the front. The vehicle lurched alarmingly. The sky was steadily turning dark as they drove around, desperately searching for any sign of the events that had recently happened.

"We should go back, it's getting late, and we're not going to find anything here." Jane tapped Darcy on the shoulder while she yawned.

"What! You mean we've driven all this way for nothing? You are so going to pay me for the gas." She directed this last part at Loki. She then sharply executed a hairpin turn, and drove off back the way they came. Loki grabbed his seatbelt for dear life, while Jane let out a gasp. Gambit however laughed.

"It's just like being back at the X-Men! None of them have any regard for self-preservation either!"

"What are the X-Men like?" Darcy asked.

"Stuck up, pretentious, controlling…" Loki trailed off. He was staring out of the window, as if he wasn't even paying attention. Jane coughed meaningfully.

"I'm Sorry. Some of the X-Men deserve that description, most don't."

"Nice save." Gambit said. "The X-Men are-"Jane suddenly interrupted.

"Erik says he's nearly back!" Jane sounded excited. Darcy groaned.

"What's the matter? You and Erik get on, don't you?" Jane asked, staring intently at her mobile.

"Yeah, but he snores loud enough to wake the dead!"

"Who's Erik?" Loki and Gambit asked at the same time.

"Jane's sort of mentor or partner." Darcy sped up a bit more. "Hey, he's just been with those creepy agents- maybe he could help you look for some way to get back?"

Loki's ears pricked, although he tried to not let on how interested he was.

"Which creepy agents? The ones who Thor was involved with?"

"They'll like secret police or something and when Thor came down with his hammer with a weird name they wanted to study him or something so stole all our research including my iPod!"

Gambit and Loki exchanged glances. This was obviously a touchy subject.

"Erik went to spend a few days with them. We think they might have a secret project they want him to help with." Jane took over. They had almost finished their journey, and Jane peered out of the window. She gave a shout. "Look! There's Erik!"

Darcy parked the car and jumped out. She ran over to Erik who gave her an affectionate hug. Jane followed at a slower pace, and motioned for Loki and Gambit to follow. Erik looked up and noticed Loki.

"Who's your friend?" He asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Erik, this is Loki." Darcy announced. "And this is Gambit…" Erik broke away at the mention of Loki's name.

"Loki? What are you doing here? What do you want from us?" He made for Loki angrily.

"Not again." Gambit said under his breath. Jane and Darcy made to calm Erik down.

"Hey, it's okay; it's not what you think." Darcy said, while Jane tried to lead Erik inside. He went along, but kept glancing over his shoulder to glare at Loki. Once they were inside, Gambit turned to Loki.

"You must've made a hell of a mess during this Thor business, mon ami." Loki just shrugged, but looked faintly annoyed.

"You humans always overreact. It wasn't as bad as they made it out to be."

"From what I hear, you tried to kill them."

"I tried to kill Thor, not them. They would have been fine if they hadn't got in the way!" Loki's voice rose. Gambit looked at him, then towards the door Darcy, Jane and Erik had just gone through. Loki got the hint.

"A bit loud?" He asked.

"Just a bit." Gambit nodded.

"I apologise. We should go in- they might think we're up to something." Loki smirked.

"Oi! You two! You'd better come in now- Erik thinks you're up to something!" Darcy shouted from the doorway.

. . . . .

An hour later Erik too had heard Loki's tale, and seemed to trust him a bit more. He kept quiet about his visit to S.H.E.I.L.D., passing his absence off as a simple matter of legal paperwork and administration. As much as he believed Loki's story some part of him still didn't fully trust him. He kept secret his visit to the strange blue cube, and his suspicions that it could be a source of huge power.

Luckily Jane and Darcy soon lost interest in interrogating Erik, and instead set about asking Loki about his plans. Did he have any way to get a message to Asgard? Would Thor know he was on Earth? What if he was stuck on Earth for good?

Loki dismissed the questions with a yawn. Tedious human conversations bored him. Making his excuses he went to bed, leaving everyone staring questioningly at Gambit.

"So how exactly do you know him?" Erik asked.

"They have a kid together." Darcy said nonchalantly. Erik choked on his tea.

"It's not what it sounds." Gambit was bored- he was tired of having to explain the complexities of his parental guardianship.

"Nothing is what it sounds anymore, is it?" Erik groaned, head in his hands. "Your friend in green there has the right idea- I'm going to bed."

Gambit was left with Darcy and Jane. Suddenly he felt very uncomfortable. They both opened their mouths at the same time. Gambit stood up hurriedly.

"I'm going to bed."

**Aaargh! It took all of my self-control to write gas instead of petrol. I'm just too British. I've also just realised that in my first story I made a reference to the Avengers, whereas now I've made it so that they haven't formed yet. Please ignore this, or put it down to the prophetic talents of one of Jari's classmates.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay! Finally! Another chapter! (Or 'Oh no, please, not another chapter!' depending on your view.) So here it is, when eventually a bit more action happens. Hope you enjoy it. **

**This chapter is owed to FantasyFlinger, whose idea it was for S.H.E.I.L.D. to… well, you'll see!**

Loki didn't go to sleep. He lay awake on his bed, staring intently at the ceiling. S.H.E.I.L.D. He knew what Erik had been doing there- being a god had definite advantages when it came to spying on people. That cube had been most interesting- it was something he'd look into later. He considered briefly how best to break into S.H.E.I.L.D- he might ask Gambit to come along. It was always nice having someone to show off to.

Erik didn't go to sleep either. Although a large part of him wanted to believe in Loki's story, a small voice at the back of his head was warning him not to trust Thor's brother. He wondered how best to tell Jane and Darcy about what he'd really been doing with S.H.E.I.L.D, but he knew it would be hard to get them alone what with Loki and his friend about. He just didn't know what to make of the whole business.

Gambit went to sleep easily. As usual, being around Loki seemed to drain him of all his energy, and even without Loki about the incessant questioning from Darcy and Jane would be enough to wear him out. _Give me mutant armies any day _he thought, _rogue Asgardians and talkative women are too much. _Before he sank into sleep he briefly had time to wonder what the hell he'd be doing the next day.

. . . . .

Gambit woke up in the early morning to find a shadowy figure standing over his bed. Instinctively reaching for the cards he kept by his bed he leapt up and was about to strike when he realised it was just Loki, who was looking slightly smug.

"Mon dieu! What are you doing!" Gambit's voice came out louder than he meant to, and next door he could hear Jane stir in her sleep. Loki's expression had changed to one of irritation.

"Keep your voice down, I don't want the others to wake up." He hissed, and glared pointedly at Gambit. Gambit shrugged sheepishly and proceeded to gather his things. In a minute Loki had teleported them away, and they landed somewhere in the mountains.

"Why did we have to leave before the others woke up?" Gambit had learned that trivial questions such as 'where are we?' and 'why are we here?' would get him either no answer at all or an unrelated answer.

"I didn't want to tell them where we were going. It would have made things… uncomfortable." Loki gazed round the mountainside as if looking for something. Which, Gambit thought, he probably was. You'd never catch Loki surveying the landscape without ulterior motives.

"You could have lied to them. You've never had a problem with that before."

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Loki grinned. "This is much more fun." His eyes fixed on a point above them, halfway up the tallest mountain. "We need to get up there. Okay?"

"Oui. Let's go." Gambit waited for Loki to teleport them yet again, but to no avail. Loki noticed this.

"We're not teleporting. Where would be the fun in that?"

. . . . .

"Not teleporting. Ou est la joie? Because getting caught is definitely much more fun." Gambit directed the latter part of this to Loki, who merely shrugged in response, then frowned. Gambit guessed the frown was caused by the sixty or more S.H.E.I.L.D. agents currently aiming an assortment of guns at them. He was only partly right.

"Don't move." One of the agents commanded in a harsh tone. Naturally Gambit then edged closer to Loki.

"If I take the ones on the right you take the ones on the left. Or maybe do that teleporting thing _now_."

Still frowning Loki shook his head. "I can not, there is something…"

"Stopping you. Yes, that would be us. I had a feeling more of your kind would come snooping around here sooner or later, so I had a team develop an inhibitor. I'm afraid you won't be able to use your powers at all." A man in a suit stepped forward, evidently the one in authority.

"Agent Coulson. I would shake your hand but security have warned me not to."

"How could you have developed this kind of technology? This is far too advanced for your kind." Loki sneered at the man in front of him, but added to Gambit as an afterthought. "No offense."

"No offense? Do you mean this man isn't like you?" Coulson studied Gambit with interest.

"No, it may not seem like it, but he is actually from Earth. Now what about this inhibitor?" Loki wanted to know.

"We developed it after… Thor was it? Anyway, we managed to build something based on the readings we got from him. I know you must have a perfectly good reason for breaking in here, and if you would just co-operate with us maybe you can explain-" Coulson tried to continue but Gambit interjected.

"I don't know why we're here either! I'm not even sure he knows. Maybe he just got bored."

Coulson looked curiously at Gambit, but chose to ignore him. "You can explain why you're here and maybe we can help."

Gambit was about to say something else, preferably something with several swear words in, but something in Loki's stance made him stop. His sneering manner had gone, and he looked completely dejected; almost ready to collapse. He nodded, and looked Coulson deep in the eyes.

"Thank you. I just… I just want to get home." Something in his manner had disarmed the agents- most of them had significantly lowered their weapons, and one or two were even looking at him with a small amount of sympathy. Coulson nodded, and beckoned for Loki and Gambit to follow him.

"Come on then. You can tell us your story."

As they fell into step behind Coulson, the two thought very different thoughts.

_Oh no. Please not his story again. How people actually believe it I don't know. _Gambit was bored, annoyed, and hungry all at once.

_They fell for it. Humans are so easy to fool. _On the outside Loki looked mournful, and ever so slightly lost, but on the inside he was smirking as yet another plan was forming in his head.

. . . . .

Erik didn't know what was going on. But he was sure that if he knew he wouldn't like it. Having been woken up by noises coming from Gambit's room, he'd lain completely still, hoping to catch a snatch of conversation. Anyone awake at that time of the morning must be up to something. After hearing nothing for several minutes, it suddenly hit Erik what the problem was: there was no noise. Loki and his friend must have left, no doubt to go off and cause trouble. He could only think of one place Loki might want to go.

Pausing only to rap on Jane and Darcy's bedroom doors, Erik picked up his phone, made himself a coffee, and called S.H.E.I.L.D.

. . . . .

Gambit sat down in a room almost identical to the meeting room at Xavier's School. Although the guards seemed more relaxed around Loki, they still treated him with equal amounts of hostility and contempt. He was preparing himself to have to listen to Loki's life story again, when another man in a suit entered the room.

"Agent Coulson. There is an urgent phone call for you." He stood at attention at the door until Coulson stood up to leave.

"I'll just be a minute. Please don't leave the room." He left leaving Loki and Gambit stuck with three heavily armed agents.

"Your inhibitor- how far is its range?" Loki asked, as innocently as he could. The guards looked at each other, unsure whether they could talk to their captives let alone answer questions. One decided to reply, although very hesitantly.

"It surrounds the perimeter of the building."

"I see. So I guess it is kept in the middle of the complex." Loki watched carefully for a response. One agent looked decidedly uncomfortably, so Loki figured he had been right. He settled back comfortably into a chair, and tried talking to Gambit.

"It's a good secret base. Much better than that one the X-Men have. And definitely better than the one at the White House. It is not quite on the same level as the Italian one at Fiorano. What do you think?"

"I think this is the last time I let you drag me off on a quest." Gambit muttered, fiddling with a pack of cards.

"A quest? Yes, I suppose it is. How interesting, I don't go on quests very often."

"I wonder why. Could it be that on quests you end up captured by an elite secret force? Without your powers?" Gambit was clearly annoyed.

"Yes, I suppose you are right. It is most unfortunate that the very place we were trying to get into has an inhibitor _specifically tuned to Asgardians._" Loki emphasised the last bit, hoping Gambit would get the message. He did, and looked up with interest. Loki gave him an almost imperceptible nod, and mouthed 'wait' at him.

"Stop talking." One of the agents demanded, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. They remained in silence for another minute, until Agent Coulson arrived back into the room, followed by yet more armed agents.

"Right. Handcuff them." He demanded, gesturing to Gambit and Loki. Gambit jumped up, ready to fight, but another shake of the head from Loki made him stop. Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be handcuffed, hoping that Loki knew what he was doing.

"Take them downstairs, I'll speak to them later." Coulson dismissed the room with a wave of hand, the immediately started talking rapidly down a radio. Loki and Gambit were dragged out of the room, and off to a dark holding cell where they were then handcuffed down. The door was slammed on them, and they were left in the dark.

Gambit sighed, and grudgingly asked Loki: "Alright, your plan. What is it?"

Loki smiled eerily. "Do not worry. It's a good one."

**What is the plan? How will they get out? Can't be too hard… can it? Ha ha ha.**

**If you have the time, please review.**


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